Aluminum Cans to the Pound

[Ken Scharabok]

How many empty 12-ounce aluminum cans does it take to make up a pound weight? I don't do sodas, etc. so don't have any here to weigh.

[Walt K. in SW PA]

I read somewhere once that it takes 29 cans to make a pound. I also have heard that the pull tabs are the heaviest part of the can. I should add that I have never bothered to see if either of these are true.

[ihedrick]

I just used my little kitchen scale to weigh some cans...5 cans made 3 ounces. The can with a tab was little over .5 ounce. the tab by itself didn't move the needle much at all, while to can edged back up to righton .5 ounce.
I don't know how accurate the scale is, but that's my input.

[Ken Scharabok]

Thank you. I thought it was 24 cans to the pound dry (no liquid residue). Looks like 30 would be a good enough rule of thumb to use.

[morrowsmowers]

We sell cans as well as other scrap that we collect and have found it to be 27 cans to the pound on average. Cans don't bring much as far as selling scrap, the big money is in copper, brass, and aluminum.

Ken & Sue in Glassboro, NJ

[Blu3duk]

Ken if you are fixing to cast things from cans, maybe you ought to rethink that, the cans have to much paint and plastic inthem to be worth melting down for pouring. instead get folks to give you thier old tranmissions that are junk, and alternators and things of that nature.... the bigger items melt the same, andit takes less to get you going... and a big hammer will break up the castings to make them easier to melt.... which also provides a form of anxiety relief [have a frustrated nieghbor come over and break it up for ya and charge them to do it!]

William

[comfortablynumb]

a pop can weighs 16 grams.
there is 28 grams in an Oz.
16 Oz to a pound.
448 grams to the pound
448/ by 16 = 28 cans per pound.

[Esteban29304]

28 cans to a pound is what we have figured, too. I help a disabled man collect & sell cans. He cannot drive a car, so I haul a trailer-load of cans to the recycle place for him about once a month. He has many people saving cans for him, so ge gets a lot! Also, the owner of the recycling business gives him a higher price for those. Right now, it is $0.53/lb. He averages about 400-500 lbs a month.

[rambler]

As to the tabs, my understanding is they are worth more as they have no paint, residue, etc in/on them. Like pebbles that some morons put in cans to make them weigh more.... Anyhow they melt down cleaner, so if you have a full container of just tabs it is worth more than the same amount of whole cans.

Many places don't want the yukky cans sitting around, but have gone to collecting just the tabs - fairly clean & simple to collect.

--->Paul